Colorado Governor May Propose Plan to Help Firms Purchase Health Insurance, Ease Requirements on Insurers

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) said on Jan. 2 that he may propose a plan that would provide tax credits to help companies purchase health insurance for employees and reduce state requirements on health coverage to "make it more affordable," the AP/Denver Rocky Mountain News reports. Owens said that he will "push" legislation this year to allow insurers to offer coverage for "medical catastrophes" or "high-deductible coverage" for other illnesses, both of which are currently illegal under state law. He also said that the state should provide "incentives" for preventive medicine to reduce "spiraling costs." According to Owens, health care issues represent some of the "top items on his agenda" for his State of the State speech next week. He predicted that unions and consumer groups would have "strong opposition" to plans to reduce state health insurance requirements, but said that "something has to be done to make sure it remains available." Owens said that the state has placed "too many mandates" -- such as requiring breast and prostate cancer coverage and psychiatric and obstetrical care -- on insurers. "HMOs and PPOs ... worked in the '80s and '90s to slow down the increase in health care costs. But politically they were very unpopular because they stood between the citizens and the health care that we all want. So year after year, we've chipped away at HMOs and PPOs," Owens said, adding, "[W]e have substantially reduced their ability to control health care costs" (Paulson, AP/Denver Rocky Mountain News, 1/3).

Uninsured Flood Denver Clinics
Meanwhile, the Denver Post reports that "thousands more" uninsured patients have visited Denver-area health clinics this winter compared to last, and doctors have expressed concern that "more layoffs in the region's job market will make the situation worse." Two clinics administered by Clinica Campasina in Adams County, Colo., for instance, have "turned away" about 200 patients per day "because the clinics don't have any space." In the outpatient clinic for the uninsured at the University of Colorado Hospital, the number of new patients has increased by about 400 since September, to about 3,500 per month. In addition, officials at Child Health Plan Plus, the state's CHIP program, said that 3,536 state residents applied for benefits in October 2001, 800 more than a year earlier. "People are feeling debilitated, demeaned and diminished because they lost their jobs, and the system makes it worse," Molly Markert of the Metro Community Provider Network, a group of health clinics for the uninsured located outside Denver, said (Sherry, Denver Post, 1/3).